TOKYO - WHEN Japanese beverage giant Kirin said this week it would take a large stake in Brazil's Schincariol, it was the latest example of Asia's growing thirst for South American markets and resources. In the same week, China's JAC Motors said it would invest US$900 million (S$1.1 billion) in an auto plant in Brazil, a fellow BRIC nation and the continent's economic powerhouse, lauded widely as a hot investment destination. China - seeking energy, mineral and food resources worldwide - has overtaken the United States to become Brazil's largest trading partner and was the biggest investor there last year, injecting about US$30 billion. Its Asian rival, Japan, is equally looking to South America for resources as well as markets, as the island-nation's population is fast ageing and declining, forcing its companies to look elsewhere for consumer markets. 'Companies long depe...